Im running Windows Vista Buissnes 32-bit and Guild Wars play perfectly at all high settings and I get 60-61 FPS with v-sinc on. When I minimize Guild wars and reopen it my FPS gets cut in half to 30-31 FPS. Then I have to restart GW to get normal 60-61 FPS. When I was running Windows XP this never happened. Is any1 else having the same problem?
edit - I got all the latest drivers.
Guild Wars FPS loss when minimizing in Vista
weemanpow3
Flightmare
When Guild Wars gets placed in the background, the process priority lowers to "low". Maybe it won't properly recover while maximizing again. Try to set it's priority manually to high.
weemanpow3
Well I just gave it a try and still the same. I got nVidia 7700 512 MB, 2GB Ram, and Intel core 2 duo 2.0 GHz in my laptop. I contacted Anet support and they said they cant help me because im running Windows Vista. Thats ridiculous.
AydenV2
I'm experiencing the SAME exact problem as you. I am also running Vista, other than I have the 64 bit version. I still haven't found the problem myself, but I am putting my money on Vista's way of processing when minimized. Like the above poster said, its probably got something to do with priorities.
I wish A-Net would support Vista... It's been a while since it was released, about time IMO.
I wish A-Net would support Vista... It's been a while since it was released, about time IMO.
Malice Black
I notice no difference, and yes I run Vista also.
Bowstring Badass
2 words. Who cares.
Bowstring Badass
[QUOTE=weemanpow3 I contacted Anet support and they said they cant help me because im running Windows Vista. Thats ridiculous.[/QUOTE]
Last time I looked at the back of a gw box it doesn't say use vista imo vista = crap windows xp ftw.
Last time I looked at the back of a gw box it doesn't say use vista imo vista = crap windows xp ftw.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by weemanpow3
When I minimize Guild wars and reopen it my FPS gets cut in half to 30-31 FPS. Then I have to restart GW to get normal 60-61 FPS. When I was running Windows XP this never happened. Is any1 else having the same problem?
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I've been trawling the web to see if someone else has had this since upgrading to Vista, and this is the first time I've seen it reported.I've got exactly the same problem as you, and (on the same physical hardware) I didn't get this under XP. My framerate is locked at my vSync rate (75fps), it doesn't change too much below that except in very crowded areas. When I minimise it and bring it back up, it tanks to 15fps or sometimes lower.
My system specs:
Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
2GB RAM
iNTEL Core 2 Duo E6600 (2.4GHz)
nVidia 7600GT (256MB)
I've tried running a bunch of driver version, including both the latest WHQL 162.22 and Beta 163.11 versions, with no difference.
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Originally Posted by weemanpow3
I contacted Anet support and they said they cant help me because im running Windows Vista. Thats ridiculous.
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I've contacted them as well and received the same response, so you're not alone there. The good news is that EotN has Vista support, so in just a few weeks you'll be able to re-file that bug report and expect resolution.Looking through the responders here, there's three points of commonality:
Windows Vista (not restricted to edition or bit type)
Core 2 Duo CPU
nVidia 7xxx series cards
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Originally Posted by Malice Black
I notice no difference, and yes I run Vista also.
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Originally Posted by Flightmare
When Guild Wars gets placed in the background, the process priority lowers to "low". Maybe it won't properly recover while maximizing again. Try to set it's priority manually to high.
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fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by Bowstring Badass
Last time I looked at the back of a gw box it doesn't say use vista
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Originally Posted by Bowstring Badass
imo vista = crap windows xp ftw.
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Malice Black
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| Malice, can you let us know your system specs? It's quite likely it's something hardware specific, so it would be nice to see if that theory is supported by whether you've got any of the same two hardware elements in common with us. |
Vista Home Premium [32-Bit]
Core 2 Duo @ 2GHz
2GB RAM
7950GTX
Just a bog standard notebook, nothing special.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by Malice Black
Notebook specs:
Vista Home Premium [32-Bit] Core 2 Duo @ 2GHz 2GB RAM 7950GTX Just a bog standard notebook, nothing special. |
Thanks for that. It's given me an idea tho - I have a laptop with Home Premium as well, which I will try. Perhaps there's something to do with "Home" that makes it Just Work. About to go out to see some sunlight, I'll try it later on.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by AydenV2
I wish A-Net would support Vista... It's been a while since it was released, about time IMO.
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If you run the game windowed (e.g., "C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" -perf -windowed), then it works fine if you switch to another applicaiton. You still can't actually minimise this, it'll tank the performance again, but it will allow you to use other applications (such as Guild Wiki) as long as it's just in the background.
So - run it in a window, don't minimise it, and it'll stay with a good framerate. The kicker appears to be the minimise function, rather than using other applications.
Malice Black
Mine works perfectly fine, even going from minimized to window.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by Malice Black
Mine works perfectly fine, even going from minimized to window.
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One final question, if you can be bothered
What driver versions are you using? I know a number of laptop companies do homegrown drivers, or sometimes lag behind the latest reference drivers. It may be that a new feature in one of the recent nVidia drivers has br0k3N Guild Wars.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by fsckfsck
It's given me an idea tho - I have a laptop with Home Premium as well, which I will try. Perhaps there's something to do with "Home" that makes it Just Work. About to go out to see some sunlight, I'll try it later on.
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My laptop is not a gaming laptop, so it's got some poxy nVidia 6150 with shared memory in it - still runs GW tho. When I fire it up, it seems to score about 15fps, give or take.
When I minimise and remaximise, it holds that same framerate - so it's consistently lousy. The drivers are the version that the manufacturer provide, so some poxy HP branded things that are designed to work with it. It won't accept the nVidia reference drivers from their site, oddly enough.
Perhaps it's a video driver issue. I'm sure all will become clear at the end of August when EotN ships and they actually need to support this problem.
Hyper.nl
I have exactly the same problem. I posted in a few older threads here and contacted support. Support passed it to the dev team and I never heared from it again. I had to disable FSAA altogether to get reasonable FPS back, because I minimize / switch to Windows a lot.
My system specs:
Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
nVidia nForce 4 SLI chipset
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4800+
2GB DDR SDRAM
nVidia GeForce 7800GT
Creative SoudBlaster X-FI
My system specs:
Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
nVidia nForce 4 SLI chipset
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4800+
2GB DDR SDRAM
nVidia GeForce 7800GT
Creative SoudBlaster X-FI
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by Hyper.nl
Support passed it to the dev team and I never heared from it again.
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Well, it's kind of good that there's more people with this problem, as it shows it's not an isolated incident. It's also interesting because there's little in common with our systems from a hardware perspective except nVidia cards - this sort of indicates it's a driver issue, and probably nothing we can do to fix.
Just out of interest - what detail level do you set your card to? Mine's set to "let the application decide."
I was checking nZone and I think I found your report of this: http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion...hp?t33610.html
Arcane_Penguin
I'm on Vista Home Premium, no such problem for me, I've even played 3 games at once fine, Soldat online, Guild Wars (Nine Rings title farming) and SWBF II collecting memory from the modtools for mapping/modding.
Malice Black
I'm using the drivers it came with, I'll get around to updating them when I can be bothered.
I have all my settings on high with 4xAA, get 60FPS in a quiet area, 20-30 in Kamdan Dist1.
I have all my settings on high with 4xAA, get 60FPS in a quiet area, 20-30 in Kamdan Dist1.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by Malice Black
I'm using the drivers it came with, I'll get around to updating them when I can be bothered.
I have all my settings on high with 4xAA, get 60FPS in a quiet area, 20-30 in Kamdan Dist1. |
I've installed all pending patches on both my Vista machines, so unless it's not a part of Windows Update I've applied them. I've gone back to them asking to confirm the knowledge base article numbers, so I can confirm for sure.
The problem could be (e.g.) that the Windows Update is incorrectly not showing those patches to be applied. It would be a rare problem but I'll be able to confirm for sure when the reply with the KB numbers.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by Arcane_Penguin
I'm on Vista Home Premium, no such problem for me
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I don't think anyone running "Home" has this problem. It's all other versions of Vista (e.g. Business, Ultimate). That may be a key indicator - but we don't have a sufficient sample size to be sure yet.
weemanpow3
I reformatted my computer and downloaded all the latest Microsoft updates and drivers again. Installed Guild Wars again and the problem still there. I really think it is ArenaNet is lacking the support for Windows Vista in there games. They got to fix this.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by weemanpow3
I really think it is ArenaNet is lacking the support for Windows Vista in there games. They got to fix this.
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http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938979/en-us
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938194/en-us
These have just been released, so should be on Windows Update today/tomorrow. I'm at work so haven't tested them yet, I'll let you know tonight when I get home and fire them up.
My guess is that ArenaNet are trying to fix this (they're going for Vista certification), but it's a thorny problem to track down because it's inconsistent (note some people in this thread have it, and some don't). The trick's going to be working out where the problem is.
Omega X
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Originally Posted by fsckfsck
They've now replied to me with the KB articles in question:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938979/en-us http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938194/en-us These have just been released, so should be on Windows Update today/tomorrow. I'm at work so haven't tested them yet, I'll let you know tonight when I get home and fire them up. |
I installed them a while ago and got a nice little performance boost.
EntityMaster
I have the same low fps problem like other vista users have. I can't really tell if the updates give me some performance boosts. And it definitely did not fix the fps loss after alt-tab or minimizing.
Vista Home Premium
Intel Core 2 Duo T7600
2 GB RAM
Nvidia Geforce Go 7600
Vista Home Premium
Intel Core 2 Duo T7600
2 GB RAM
Nvidia Geforce Go 7600
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by EntityMaster
I have the same low fps problem like other vista users have. I can't really tell if the updates give me some performance boosts. And it definitely did not fix the fps loss after alt-tab or minimizing.
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Ah well - back to PlayNC, I'll let them know it's not a fix.
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Vista Home Premium Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2 GB RAM Nvidia Geforce Go 7600 |
What drivers are you using Entity?
EntityMaster
I'm currently using driver 165.01 from laptopvideo2go.com. Just upgrade from 158.51 too.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by EntityMaster
I'm currently using driver 165.01 from laptopvideo2go.com. Just upgrade from 158.51 too.
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I'd love to get some more reports from the people whom it's working for to see if their drivers work ok - it's possible that only newer drivers are having this problem, and regressing back to the stone age might fix it
Hyper.nl
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Originally Posted by fsckfsck
/congrats on getting them to deal with it at all, the rest of us just got bumped off because Vista's not yet supported
Well, it's kind of good that there's more people with this problem, as it shows it's not an isolated incident. It's also interesting because there's little in common with our systems from a hardware perspective except nVidia cards - this sort of indicates it's a driver issue, and probably nothing we can do to fix. Just out of interest - what detail level do you set your card to? Mine's set to "let the application decide." I was checking nZone and I think I found your report of this: http://forums.nvidia.com/lofiversion...hp?t33610.html |
Tijger
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Originally Posted by fsckfsck
That's really interesting.
I don't think anyone running "Home" has this problem. It's all other versions of Vista (e.g. Business, Ultimate). That may be a key indicator - but we don't have a sufficient sample size to be sure yet. |
Its also not a problem with GW. The 'problem' is with Vista itself when you have Aero running. Aero makes use of you GPU, both the RAM and the GPU itself, and when you start a game fullscreen Vista will handoff exclusive use of the GPU to GW...now you Alt-Tab, Aero kicks back in and grabs part of the GPU RAM and processing cycles which slows GW down...then you Alt-Tab back into fullscreen GW but this time Vista does NOT release the GPU fully to GW.
I expect the solution to this will have to come from Microsoft because it looks to me to be a result of the way the OS handles the handoff.
PS: For clarification, GW runs perfectly under Vista with performance close to XP when you use the latest drivers, just check Nvidia or ATi's websites for the latest versions.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by Tijger
Its also not a problem with GW. The 'problem' is with Vista itself when you have Aero running. Aero makes use of you GPU, both the RAM and the GPU itself, and when you start a game fullscreen Vista will handoff exclusive use of the GPU to GW...now you Alt-Tab, Aero kicks back in and grabs part of the GPU RAM and processing cycles which slows GW down...then you Alt-Tab back into fullscreen GW but this time Vista does NOT release the GPU fully to GW.
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It's possible this is the case. I have my doubts about it being entirely not related to GW, because I don't get this problem with other games on my system, but the root cause may be correct.
Have you confirmed this yourself by getting the issue with Aero and then making it go away by disabling Aero?
On other news, I had PlayNC ask me for my DXDiag and to run an antispyware check on my system, which I'll also do tonight. They look to be taking this a bit more seriously now, and trying to problem solve it with me - I'm pretty happy with their approach now.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by Tijger
PS: For clarification, GW runs perfectly under Vista with performance close to XP when you use the latest drivers, just check Nvidia or ATi's websites for the latest versions.
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I can test this easily because I have two identical machines, one is my wife's and one is mine - we both play GW. She's not gone to Vista yet, and still has XP; the hardware is otherwise the same (down to the vendors of the graphics cards). Hers is just a little bit slower than mine, and suffers from some interesting network effects I don't get. Vista is generally a betterment, except for this one annoying issue on minimise
EntityMaster
I dunno if this is right, but if I remember correctly this vista fps issue began with the massive update Anet had back in April, along with the new audio engine thing?
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by EntityMaster
I dunno if this is right, but if I remember correctly this vista fps issue began with the massive update Anet had back in April, along with the new audio engine thing?
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Hyper's (according to the nZone thread) tried disabling his audio drivers completely so that should have ruled that out.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by Tijger
The 'problem' is with Vista itself when you have Aero running.
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Ross C Anderson
I am dissapointed with Windows Vista, After installing Vista Ultimate i found my FPS has dropped to a constant <10 with "Fastest" settings in game. I can't tell whether it is lack of support or Vista itself..
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by Ross C Anderson
I am dissapointed with Windows Vista, After installing Vista Ultimate i found my FPS has dropped to a constant <10 with "Fastest" settings in game. I can't tell whether it is lack of support or Vista itself..
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I'd recommend opening a ticket with PlayNC - the more information they get on Vista problems the easier it will be to narrow down the culprit.
If it's Vista, they're in a better position to lobby MS for a fix than you or I
weemanpow3
Has their been any complaints with this problem with ATI users or is it just nvidia users? Also I called anet support up and this guy didn't turn me down by saying we cant do anything for you becuase your using Vista. He had me disable lots of things and run me through their tests to see if it was the cause and try the new 2 microsoft updates and no luck. He said other users have contacted them with the same problem but he said the number has not been big enough for immediate action. He said that they are looking into it though.
Hopefully it will be fixed when GW:EN come out.
Hopefully it will be fixed when GW:EN come out.
fsckfsck
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Originally Posted by weemanpow3
Has their been any complaints with this problem with ATI users or is it just nvidia users?
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EotN is fully Vista supported, and ANet are seeking Vista certification - so like you, I hope this will be resolved shortly.
TRicciardi
Well i havent noticed any drop on fps when i minimize gw on vista.
My specs:
AMD x2 4600
2GB Ram
Geforce 6800GS
Vista Ultimate 64bits
Before, i would notice not a drop in fps, but vista taking a full minute switching application, but that disapeared when i got another gig of ram, so i supose it was just my low access speed to virtual memory.
Ricciardi
My specs:
AMD x2 4600
2GB Ram
Geforce 6800GS
Vista Ultimate 64bits
Before, i would notice not a drop in fps, but vista taking a full minute switching application, but that disapeared when i got another gig of ram, so i supose it was just my low access speed to virtual memory.
Ricciardi